The 11 electricity distribution companies, DisCos, in Nigeria collected a total of N199.90 billion in customers’ bills in the first quarter of 2022.
This was stated in a First Quarterly 2022 Report published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, on Friday.
It stated that out of N295.69 billion billed to DisCos’ customers in the period under review, they collected only 67.36 per cent (N199.90 billion), a reduction from the 69.34 per cent bill collected in 2021.
NERC urged DisCos to employ technologies and other operational procedures to increase bill collection and performance.
“A total revenue collected by all DisCos in 2022/Q1 was ₦199.90 billion out of ₦295.69 billion billed to customers —this corresponds to a collection efficiency of 67.36%, representing a 1.98 pp reduction compared to 2021/Q4, where the average collection efficiency was 69.34%. In monetary terms, although the billing in 2022/Q1 reduced by ₦7.41 billion (-2.44%), revenue collections decreased at a higher rate – ₦10.98 billion (-5.22%).
“It is imperative for DisCos to employ technologies and operational procedures to increase both their billing and collection performances to forestall long-term financial challenges. These could include holistic energy accounting procedures, customer and infrastructure metering etc,” the report stated.
NERC is constitutionally mandated to present a quarterly report about the performance of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, to the President and National Assembly.
